1876-1962
Father
Mother
Siblings
Mary Ellen (Molly), George Henry, Anne Beatrice, Alodia, Maria Bridget, Joseph, John Thomas, Joseph Andrew, William Bernard, Hannah
Married
Children
Clarence Charles, Charles, Thelma Hannah Maria, Nancy Evelyn Ruby Ellen, Clarice Floretta, Lancelot John Dudley (Jack), Zena, Alvin Christopher, Ellwyn Maria Mary, Ross Joseph
Henry’s Life
Henry Charles was the tenth child and sixth son of John Paul and Maria York.
John was the son of George Paul and Bridget Power who arrived on ‘The Alfred’ from Fermoy, Cork, Ireland as assisted immigrants in 1837. Maria was the daughter of Henry York, a convict, and Mary Murphy, another Irish assisted immigrant.
John Paul and Maria York married in 1863 at Emu Plains and embarked upon the hotel-keeping business at Dargan’s Creek, Western Line, and later had a hotel at Toll-Bar, Little Hartley, and subsequently at Woodford (then known as Bull’s Camp). Their children were born at locations right across the Blue Mountains – from Emu Plains to Hartley corresponding to where they were residing at the time. Their movements across the Blue Mountains mirroring with the construction of the western railway line which was completed in 1868.
Henry Charles Paul was baptized at Penrith.
Henry was a photographer of some note. He would be very conscious of the pose of his subjects which in turn made him very conscious of how posed when he was on the other side of the camera. One of his most beautiful portraits is that of his wife Elizabeth.
Henry met Elizabeth Eliza Parker from the Canowindra area in the early 1900s, it is not known where they met but they both had family in the Penrith district, or, alternatively, a more romantic notion is they may have meet as Henry plied his photography trade around bush schools. He would ride with his camera and tripod lashed to the back of his horse to various bush schools to photograph the students and their teachers. Many of us have photographs of our ancestors as such.
Their first son, Clarence, was born in Cargo in 1902, only Elizabeth was noted on the registration of birth. It appears that Henry’s family was not happy with him marrying a person who was not catholic. Family lore indicates that Henry became estranged from his family. All their children grew up in the Catholic faith.
Elizabeth and Henry married at St Peters in Sydney in November 1902. Their second son, Charles was born in 1904. Both children died in infancy. Their residence was cited as 130 Regent Street, Camperdown, a street that still exists but is now called Robert Street on the border of Newtown. Their subsequent children were born in Camperdown, Newtown and Canowindra.
The Paul family moved to Canowindra permanently around 1909 where they resided in the Mogong, Burdett areas.
Henry continued with his photography and many beautiful family photos are still held by his family. There is a family anecdote – When two ‘gentlemen’ challenged each other to a fight one evening, they asked Henry to photograph the whole thing. Although he was quite proper and correct and such things were anathema to him, he decided to photograph the fight anyway. He set up his tripod, threw the cape over his head and conscientiously began to photograph the fight, he did not realise that he had positioned himself on a bull-ant nest until they were crawling up his legs and causing a much discomfort.
Henry was also a farm overseer in the Canowindra district. The winter was the time to hunt foxes. Henry and his sons Jack and Alvin would participate in these hunts. Men would gather and climb into the tray Jack’s truck and go hunting. Some would drop off the truck along the crest of the hill and look for fox holes to flush them out and hunt them to shooters lined up below. There was absolutely no danger there!
Henry and Elizabeth’s last child, Ross, was born in May of 1922 and Elizabeth died in September of 1923. Leaving Henry and their young family to mourn her. Henry was bereft at losing his wife and went off into the hills for some time, Jack and Alvin set off seeking work for themselves to ease the burden on the family. The older children looked after the younger as Henry overcame his grief.
Henry went to live in Maroubra in the early thirties along with, along with his daughters and Ross. Elizabeth’s parents and sister lived in the adjacent suburb. Ross would have been around 8 so it may have been to educate him. He worked as a labourer while there.
Henry was back in the Mogong district by 1935. Henry died in Harden in 1962 at the age of 86.
Authored by Leah Burnheim in collaboration with William Paul